Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota, has selected MOGL as its exclusive name, image and likeness (NIL) representative. It is the first Minnesota-based school to choose the company co-founded by CEO Ayden Syal and Brandon Wimbush, the chief athletic officer. The two men are former classmates at Notre Dame and founded their company “for athletes by athletes” in 2020.
“We have roughly 10 [colleges and universities] right now—most notably Notre Dame.” They would love to work with more Minnesota schools, admitted Wimbush. He was the Irish QB who led them to a 10-3 record in 2017 and started 16 games overall.
He and Syal both are graduates of the Mendoza College of Business—the former in management consulting and Wimbush in accountancy. “I graduated in 2019,” noted Wimbush.
There aren’t too many Black and POC-owned firms that are in the NIL business. “What we do specifically[is] we connect athletes to businesses and brands to promote their products and services,” Wimbush pointed out. “It’s a micro-influencer platform that allows athletes to compliantly, safely, and for free connect to these brands. [MOGL has] the ability to connect to these athletes [to help them] promote their products or services.”
Despite being around for nearly two years and reportedly making NIL deals big and small, fewer than one in five US adults “have seen, read or heard about any of the 10 recent Division I NIL deals,” according to a new Morning Consult survey.
Recently, however, it was reported that 18-year-old Jaden Rashada was first offered a $13 million NIL deal by a collective if he signed with the University of Florida to play football. Rashada asked for and was granted his release from his national letter of intent to Florida, supposedly because the deal fell through.
Collectives are officially unaffiliated with the schools that they represent. The MSR wrote (December 29, 2022) about Dinkytown Athletes, a collective for Gopher players.
Global Sports Matter recently noted that there are an estimated 200 collectives nationwide, but that NIL is a “patchwork solution” featuring “disorganization and under-the-table dealings.” Collectives are “part talent agency, part extension of the school, and part rogue actor shaking up college sport,” wrote Alex Kirshner for Global Sports Matter on January 17.
In a press release, MOGL said that they are donating proceeds to local youth athletic programming through a philanthropic partnership with Every Kid Sports. Wimbush also points out that they don’t get a dime from the athletes they sign up.
“We’re excited about what we’ve done today and where this is going,” said Wimbush on MOGL.
Detroit Mercy lacrosse player Maddie Johnson is the first Black woman college lacrosse player to strike an NIL deal last year with MOGL. “That [story] went viral,” said Wimbush. “It’s stories like that that really make us excited.”
“We are serving athletes of color who have been marginalized. As an athlete of color myself, and now co-founder of a company like this, what I’m striving for is to provide opportunities, not just for athletes of color but businesses that are run by Black owners, giving them a resource to reduce costs when it comes to advertising and marketing.”
“We are excited to partner with MOGL,” said Winona State Athletic Director Eric Schoh in a published statement. “Our student-athletes…deserve the chance to work with an industry leader to monetize their NIL and promote their personal brand.”
Wimbush and others are hoping Congress will introduce NIL legislation to finally regulate it. He believes that with a new NCAA president coming on board later this year, “There’ll be a little bit more structure and regulations in place.”